Quest: Are Theresa May's days in charge numbered?

Quest’s Profitable Moment

I wonder if we will look back on this week as the turning point when it became obvious Theresa May’s prime ministership is over. Her keynote speech to the Tory conference was by every conclusion a mishap-filled disaster.

Firstly, a prankster managed to get on the stage and handed her a P45 — the form used in the U.K. for dismissal. Then May got a coughing fit and had to be handed a throat lozenge by the chancellor. Finally, some of the letters on the screen behind her fell off while she was finishing up.

At the moment, the only reason to keep Theresa May is the alternatives are grim, if not worse. The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is a brilliant man suffused by his own ambition. Everyone else is either dull, dangerous or deluded. So, Mrs. May continues.

It would be a grave mistake for the European Union to engage in schadenfreude, rubbing their hands in glee at this confusion. Some clearly hope the British confusion will enable the EU to “get one over” on the U.K., punishing them for leaving and sending a warning to other upstarts. That would be disaster. A failed negotiation may hurt the Brits more than the rest, but in the long run everyone will suffer.

Theresa May’s days as prime minister are numbered. What comes after may be worse. The Brexit negotiations are stuck in phase one and time is running out. Politics as normal must not be the way forward on either side if we are to avert disaster of the worst kind.

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